ACT Govt hails swimming rules a success

The ACT Government says its stricter swimming carnival policy has been a success, despite leading to some schools to cancel swimming events in the first year of the new rules.

”We believe that we’ve got a policy that … supports strong levels of participation by schools and students and provides that really important exposure to swimming and water activity,” the director of learning and teaching at the Education Directorate, Leanne Wright, told the Canberra Times.

She said out of the 71 of the 76 public schools in the ACT were planning a swimming carnival this year.

The paper reported the new School Swimming Carnivals Procedures and Checklist caused at least 10 schools to cancel carnivals when it was released – before a subsequent rethink.

The policy requires a strict ratio of supervisors to children during swimming events and for all pools to be five-star certified.